It’s been a long hard day. You’re tired, hungry, ready for that sweet easy chair. You pull into the driveway, hit the remote of your garage door opener, and nothing happens. It’s almost like the universe is laughing at you. You troubleshoot as much as you can from your car but you come to the realization that your garage door opener suddenly needs emergency repair.
Garage door openers are modern miracles of invention. They bring so much convenience to our lives we don’t think about them until they break down. But don’t worry. You can still manually open your garage door the old-fashioned way. This way you can safely store your car or get out of your garage and still use your door until you can call a professional to repair the opener.
Here’s how to manually open your garage door when your garage door opener stops working. This way, you can still access your garage door until you can get hold of a repair service.
Is The Power Out?
Many think their garage door opener is in need of repair until they realize that their power has gone out. Go inside your home and see if you have electricity. If your home or area has no power, you’ll have to wait it out to have your garage door automatically opener. However, you can still manually open your overhead door to stow away your vehicle.
Can You Get Inside Your Garage?
If you can still get inside your garage, either through the house or a side door in the garage, the process of manually opening the garage door is much easier. Most electric, automatic overhead doors have a bypass switch, but you’ll need to be inside the garage to access it. This is a security feature so burglars cannot just access your garage door anytime they want.
Disconnecting the Garage Door Opener
For most doors, the bypass switch to your garage door opener is a red rope hanging down from your garage door mechanisms. Pulling this cord releases the door from the garage door trolley. The trolley will then be able to freely operate without raising or lowering the door.
Keep in mind that if your door is open any amount, it will come crashing down when you pull the cord. Exercise extreme caution and be sure to keep any people, pets, or objects away from the door when you pull the cord.
Once the garage door is released from the opener, you should be able to easily manually lift the door. Get someone to help you hold the door or place an object underneath it if you’d like to keep your door open. If the door is stuck, however, you might have a more serious garage door repair. The garage door is likely off track, which is a serious repair that shouldn’t be handled DIY style. Stop using the door immediately until it is serviced by a garage door repair company or service.
Resetting the Garage Door Opener
Once the garage door opener has been repaired, resetting your door is fairly simple. All you need to do is operate the opener and it should automatically reconnect with the garage door. If that doesn’t work, there’s a chance you’ll need to replace or repair the garage door opener. Purchasing a new garage door opener can be quite advantageous, especially if you haven’t replaced your overhead opener in years. On the market you’ll find a variety of “smart” garage door openers, which allow you to remotely access your door from anywhere in the world. It’s an extremely handy feature, especially when you want to let the kids in from school while you’re at work.
Find the best garage door repair and installation company in your area to have them replace your old-school overhead door opener with the latest and greatest “smart” technology.